Part 148: Trial 6, Part 3

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: Mukuro w-was the Ultimate Soldier. She must've been in a h-hundred different battles.
: So when you th-think about it...
: Obviously she g-got all those wounds in battle!
: Are you finished?
: You didn't d-deny me this timesy wimesy!
: Agh! You made me go all cutesy!
: Don't worry. There wasn't anything cute about it.

The victim was the Ultimate Soldier, who'd strolled across a thousand battlefields... Is that how she got all those wounds...?

: According to Mukuro's profile, she never sustained any injuries in battle before arriving at the school.



> Shoot "all those wounds in battle" with "Mukuro Ikusaba's Profile"









: No, Mukuro didn't suffer those wounds in battle. The file we found in the headmaster's room said as much.



: Despite the time she spent in battle after battle as a member of Fenrir...when she entered this school, she hadn't sustained a single injury.
: T-To be denied so completely... Actually, it's k-kind of refreshing!
: *gasp* M-Maybe it's cuz of all of Master's t-training!
: ...



: Anyway... So we can be sure that Mukuro suffered all those wounds after coming to this school.
: In which case, they could be the very thing that killed her!
: As a matter of fact, it's hard to imagine any other possibility.



: When examining her body, I found that her stomach and head wounds came after she was already dead.
: Unless anyone has any better suggestions, I think we can say this with confidence...
: The wounds Mukuro sustained all over her body are what ultimately killed her!









: But if that's what killed her...
: ...then does that mean she's really been dead for who knows how long!?
: That's exactly what it means. When we found her body in the garden, she'd already been dead for several days.
: So then, what about the little matter of what happened last night?



: Makoto, you said you were attacked in your room by a masked assailant. If Mukuro had already been dead for several days, certainly it couldn't have been her. So who was it that attacked you?

The identity of the one who attacked me... I can't think of anyone else...!



> The mastermind

: The one who attacked me...was the true mastermind.



: When we discovered Mukuro in the garden wearing the same mask...I naturally assumed she must have been the one who attacked me. But I was wrong. It wasn't her at all. It was the mastermind!





: Ahaha! Hahahaha!
: Wh-What are you laughing at...?
: Oh, don't mind me. I'm just getting a little impatient sitting her listening. I think I'm gonna jump in!



: Let's start off with a nice, easy question. Your assumption that I attacked Makoto is just that, right? An assumption. You can't really know who was under that mask, can you? I mean, that's the whole point of a mask!
: The true identity of the masked attacker is Mukuro Ikusaba! At least, that's what I think!
: Puhuhu... Do you have any evidence that might convince me otherwise?

No, there's no way Mukuro is the one that attacked me... Even if I didn't see their face...



If you compared what we know about Mukuro to the masked attacker...it should be obvious!







: You never saw their face, right?
: So you can't have any idea who was under that mask!
: I'm telling you now, it was Mukuro Ikusaba!
: You're wrong. Even without seeing their face...there's another part of the attacker we can use to prove it wasn't her.
: Oh? And what is this other part?
: Is it the right hand? Or the left hand? Maybe the right foot? Or perhaps the left foot?
: Or could it be... the hips!?

Whoever attacked me, they didn't have something Mukuro definitely had... That should be proof enough that the one who attacked me wasn't Mukuro!



: We need to choose the correct body part to prove that it wasn't Mukuro. In this case, we know that the attacker didn't have the tattoo on their right hand!



> Absorb "right hand"



> Shoot "it was Mukuro Ikusaba"







: Mukuro had a tattoo on her right hand, if I remember correctly. A "representation of Fenrir"... In other words, a wolf tattoo. But I saw the right hand of the person who attacked me...



: ...and there was no such tattoo. So there's no way the person behind the mask was Mukuro!



: Y-Yeah, well, okay... Ya got me, I guess it wasn't her...
: But that still doesn't prove that it was me! It could have been, ya know...someone else, right?
: Hiro, Toko, Hina and I all have solid alibis for that entire night.
: Yeah! We were in the gym tearing you apart! So it couldn't have been any of us!
: O-Okay, sure, it couldn't have been any of you...





: But...what about Kyoko!? It totally could've been her!
: ...
: Uh-oh! No snappy comeback? Did I score a bull's-eye?
: ...
: If you insist, I don't mind showing you.
: Huh? Show me what...?
: What do you think? I'll show you the one thing that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt it wasn't me.

Before anyone could say anything...





...Kyoko was removing her gloves.

: Your hands...!

Without thinking, I let out a gasp. It was more than just a little burned skin...

: Awful, isn't it? It happened when I was first learning to be a detective. I was inexperienced...
: I thought you didn't want anyone to see those scars...
: If it means we get another step closer to unmasking the mastermind, it doesn't really bother me.

Kyoko seemed to savor the words as she said them. Then she put her gloves back on.



: My scars should suffice as proof. Makoto, did the person who attacked you have scars like mine?
: No...not at all, I'm positive.
: Then this much has been made clear...





: There can be no doubt that the one who attacked Makoto is the true mastermind.
: Puhuhu... This is just awful!
: On top of my secret being revealed, I had to look at those positively grotesque scars of yours!
: Ah, sorry! Did I say that out loud? I do hope I didn't hurt your feelings...!
: Not at all. You can say whatever you want.
: Sure, as long as it means pushing me farther into the corner, right? But I'm not cornered just yet!



: Because if you hadn't noticed, the circumstances surrounding Mukuro's death are totally unknown!
: That's true... All we know right now is she was killed a good while before this morning.
: On the contrary, we don't know anything other than that!
: You're not going to tell us she was already dead before we arrived here or something, are you?
: Puhuhu. In that regard, you have nothing to worry about!



: I promise you, without a doubt, she died after our little killing game began here!
: Then somehow, she was killed in secret, without any of us knowing.
: And after she died, who knows how much time went by before we found her, right? Did the culprit stash her somewhere? She couldn't have been in the garden the whole time, could she?
: If she was, she w-would've been totally decomposed... Just like your b-brain!



: Then...she was being stored somewhere?
: But...to hide a body here...to just store it somewhere...?

There's only one place... I can't think of anywhere else the body could have been stored...



> The bio lab





: Mukuro's body was probably kept hidden in the bio lab.
: The b-bio lab...? You mean, on the 5th f-floor?



: That's right. It's actually set up for use as a morgue. So it's the perfect place to hide a body, and it'd keep the body preserved at the same time.



: Then you're also saying the body was moved from the bio lab to the garden...
: And I have no doubt that that's exactly what happened. In fact, I have proof...

The proof that shows the body was carried from the bio lab to the garden...



> Present "Tarp"



: What makes me so sure the body was carried from the bio lab to the garden is the tarp that we found in the garden. When I was checking it over again, I noticed something...
: I noticed that some text had been stamnped on one corner of the tarp.



: Oh! It says bio lab!
: Holy cow... How'd you notice that tiny little thing?
: Makoto's nit-picky nature seems to have surfaced with perfect timing...
: This proves that the tarp originally came from the bio lab.



: In fact, there's a whole stack of tarps just like it in there.



: So when the killer moved the body to the garden, they must have grabbed a tarp to wrap it in. Then they simply left it as it was to protect against the sprinklers, and put the coat on it afterwards.
: Wow...you m-made everything sound so amazingly c-consistent!
: B-But that's just a wild guess!
: Where's your evidence!? Prove that the body was wrapped in a tarp and moved!
: There is no evidence. I was simply explaining what I think happened.
: But you seem to be getting pretty worked up about it, wouldn't you say?





: ...Worked up!?
: Now that the conversation has turned to the topic of the bio lab, you must be getting pretty nervous. Because the key to uncovering your secret identity is hidden within that room, isn't it?
: Are you talking about unmasking the mastermind!?
: You see, the bio lab contained an inconsistency--one so major it can't be overlooked.

An inconsistency in the bio lab...? Could you be talking about...?





: La-la-la! I can't hear you! La-la-la!
: Such a child... Oh well, just ignore him.

Hrmm... I need to pull myself together and think... The inconsistency in the bio lab... Could you be talking about--?





: Hey, by the way, Makoto! What about that one thing!?
: ...
: What...one thing?
: Puhuhu...What do you think? I'm talking about...





: ...your family.

What!?



: Puhuhuhu! Don't tell me you forgot about that video message!



: So what do you think? Are you sure your family's still okay?



: Wh--!? Why are you bringing that up now!?
: Your mom, your dad, your little sister... What do you think has happened to your family?
: Are they really as safe as you might have assumed?



: S-Stop talking about that!
: Calm down, Makoto. He wants you to get upset.
: ...

Yeah...I need to calm down. I can't let him get to me...! He's just saying that cuz he knows we're getting close to the truth of the bio lab! So if I want to shut him up...



...I need to expose the inconsistency and slam him with it!